What if?
by vexeddarklight
Summary: What if Bill never attacked that summer? What if Dipper and Mabel went back home to Piedmont? What if Stanford never stopped whatever Bill was planning? What if it all came crashing down? Set after A Tale of Two Stans. Dipifica.
1. Chapter 1

What If?

 **AN: Set during the following summer after the events of the current show. I do not own Gravity Falls or any of the characters except for my OC(s). In this story the Stan brothers were able to quickly reconcile their differences rather than the heated ending from** _ **A Tale of Two Stans**_ **. The overly affectionate behavior between Pacifica and the Pine twins is due to them having a lot of secret phone calls and skypes while Pacifica was grounded to the estate for the summer.**

 **This is rated T for the later chapters and my own paranoia. Depending on how the story plays out, it may be jumped up to an M, but only for high levels of violence, and possible death.**

Chapter 1:

It's the end of the summer and it's finally time for Dipper and Mabel to head back to Piedmont. Grunkle Stan and Grunkle Ford, after dealing with their differences and ending a lifelong argument, decided to have one last full blown bash for the kids. The Grunkles set up a big bonfire and held a cookout for the kids. All their friends showed up, both the normal and the supernatural. For their final goodbyes of the summer came Grenda and Candy, Wendy and the gang, Soos and Melody, Blendin Blandin, and Old Man McGucket. Dipper and Mabel were so happy to see everyone; however, they were sad that Pacifica couldn't make it since her parents had ended up grounding her for the rest of the summer.

That was until a cab pulled up to the Mystery Shack. The twins looked up to see no one inside the cab. The door opened up on the far side of the cab and you could hear the raspy voice of the driver say to a yet unknown occupant, "That'll be $37.50."

The twins perked up right quickly when they heard a familiar voice say "Keep the change."

"Thank you kindly miss," said the cab driver with much enthusiasm before putting the car into drive and pulling out of the parking lot.

Dipper and Mabel jumped and ran when they saw Pacifica standing there, both of them yelling in unison "PACIFICA", Mabel practically tackling her with a hug.

"What are you doing here Paz? I thought your parents grounded you for the summer," Dipper said.

"Yeah, I know we said goodbye on the phone last night, but how did you even get here?" said Mabel, releasing Pacifica from her death grip.

Finally able to breathe again, Pacifica said, "I snuck out, duh. What, did you think I was going to let a little grounding keep me from seeing my two best friends before they leave for 9 whole months?" There was a pause in her speech before she continued, "You are coming back next summer, right?" This she said with a slight quiver of her lip and the start of puppy dog eyes.

"Of course we are, although it will be a little weird to explain to our parents how there are now two Grunkle Stans." Dipper said.

"I heard that," said Stanford, "I told you to call me Grunkle Ford. It's less confusing that way. Besides, my brother and I already talked to your parents and they said if you want to you can come back next summer as soon as school lets out. Just make sure you focus on your studies, okay sports."

Dipper shakes his head in the affirmative while jumping into a big hug with his uncle. Pacifica gives herself a small fist pump for next summer while whispering "Yes, my dipper will be back." Unknowingly, to her Mabel hears what she said. Pacifica looks over at Mabel and sees a huge grin appearing on her face. Just before Mabel is able to squeal in excitement, Pacifica grabs her and pulls her to the other side of the Mystery Shack.

"Not a WORD of this, you hear me Mabel." Pacifica said.

"But Paz …" Mabel started before she was cut off.

"No buts Mabel, I may be ready to accept my feelings but I don't know if he is, especially just before you both leave." Pacifica was saying, "Just promise you won't say anything to him. I plan to tell him next summer when you guys get back."

"Come on Paz. Please?" insist Mabel, practically crawling on her knees begging.

"NO Mabel," said a stubborn Pacifica, "and I mean it."

"Okay Paz, you win, but just so you know, I was only going to tell you how happy I am. The two of you look SO CUTE together. You definitely get the Mabel Seal of Approval." After a pause, Mabel askes "So when did this start anyway?"

Pacifica gets a shy expression on, looks away and whispers "It started the evening of the party." Mabel just gets her usual super excitement smile and squeals.

Meanwhile back at the party Dipper was talking with Blandin.

"I can't believe you came to this." said Dipper.

"Are you kidding?" Blandin said, "After all you and your sister did for me, there was no way I was going to miss this chance to celebrate. Especially with what's coming next sum… I mean, uh, STEAK. I'm gonna go get one!"

 _Well that was weird,_ Dipper thought to himself just before Mabel tackled him yelling "DIPPER, NEXT SUMMER IS GOING TO BE SO AMAZING!" Pacifica gives Mabel a look, but she just keeps smiling.

The next few hours were spent in merriment; delicious food, good friends, and fun times all around. Some of the more entertaining events were the Stan brothers performing a 40 year old song on the karaoke machine, Soos telling jokes and stories from the summer while Melody just laughs along with him, and when Nate and Lee get Thompson to try and tape a tail on Waddles telling him it was a party game.

The whole gang continued on with the party until it was getting pretty late. Pacifica called for a cab and was getting ready to sneak back home. She walked up to the twins and gave them both a hug. A slight blush spread across Dipper's face, but of course, eagle eyed Mabel didn't miss a thing.

"Don't forget to keep in touch," said Pacifica, "otherwise I may be force to come down to Piedmont myself to see what's wrong."

"We won't," said the twins in unison. Dipper continued "You just be sure not to let your parents give you too much trouble. We'll see you in about 9 months."

After everyone left Dipper and Mabel made their way to the attic one last time and slept a relatively sound night. When they awoke the next morning, Stan had made them breakfast and they said there last goodbyes before getting on the bus to Piedmont.

NINE MONTHS LATER

The day had been a usual one for Pacifica, but she was happier now more than she had been all year. It was the last day of school and less than a week away from her favorite peoples return to Gravity Falls. After dinner she did her normal routine of shower, preparation, and bed. Comfortable in her favorite hot pink llama pajamas, she laid herself down to sleep.

"Heeeyyy," a whispery voice said, "Heeyy, Llama."

"HEY," it finally yelled, "WAKE UP LLAMA, THERES SOMETHING YOU SHOULD SEE."

Pacifica opened her eyes to a gray world and saw a triangle floating in front of her. Before she could say anything, there was a bright flash of light and then only darkness remained. Pacifica looked around and saw her clock 2:43. She was about to go back to sleep when she heard a noise coming from the main hall of the house. As she got up, slipped on her slippers, grabbed her phone, and crept downstairs to see what was happening, she noticed what sounded like a strange chant. She got to the main hall and saw her parents kneeling in front of the fireplace chanting something that almost sounded backwards.

Suddenly the fire turned a bright blue and the color of the rest of the house slowly started to fade around it. Her father turned and she saw a fearful face, almost like that of a zombie. In a voice more like the one from her dream that awoke her rather than her father's, came the words, "YOU MIGHT WANT TO GET INTO THE PANIC ROOM."

Without so much as a second thought, Pacifica opened the door to the panic room, jumped inside, and closed it. As soon as she did she heard an explosion. She tried looking at the monitors to see what happened but all the screens were static. She switched the feed to one of the external cameras and saw something that terrified her more than the bell ever could. Here entire house was gone, just a few parts of the exterior walls. Floating in the middle of the wreckage was the slightly familiar form from her dream. It turned around and she saw a yellow triangle with one eye, a bowtie, top hat, can and scrawny little arms and legs.

The mysterious triangle said "MAN, IT IS GOOD TO BE BACK IN THE PHYSICAL PLANE. NOW TO WORK ON RESTORING MY BODY, BUT FIRST I'LL NEED A HOME."

After it said that the debris from the wreckage started to fly through the air toward the triangle. A huge creepy looking tower started to form almost directly above her. Suddenly the feed cut out and she was left alone in the tiny room. She pulled out her phone and did the only thing she could think of, she tried calling Dipper. Unfortunately, he didn't answer. She looked at her phone to try and make another call when she noticed the battery was about to run out. She had just enough to send one text.

She typed as fast as she could, fumbling with her phone from the fear. Getting just a few words she sent out a message to Dipper. All caps it read 'PLEASE, HELP ME'. The sent message sign appeared on her phone then it died without a care in the world.

Pacifica checked to make sure the panic room door was locked, then laid down and cried herself to sleep, partially out of fear, and partially out of sadness thinking how everyone in the house but her was now dead, and there was nothing she could have done to save them.

 **That's it for chapter one. I will continue to work on this but I don't know when I'll publish the next update. Please review and let me know what you think. This is my first official FanFic and I can't wait to see what you all think. The rest of the chapters will probably be longer, so for those of you who like big stories, please be patient. Please follow or fav if you like it and hopefully you'll see chapter 2 within the next few days or so.**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Not much to say yet. Literally started writing just after finishing chapter 1. This chapter will start out with Dipper and Mabel's bus ride home then will get to the point where it picks up from the previous chapter. Anyways thanks to those who already faved and followed my story and here's to hoping you like the second chapter. I will try to stay as true to the characters as possible. Again, I don't own Gravity Falls or any of the characters, other than my OC(s), which will appear eventually.**

Chapter 2:

Dipper and Mabel got onto the bus, looking out the windows, and giving one last sad wave goodbye to their Grunkles, friends, and the town of Gravity Falls itself. After passing by the city limit Mabel turns to Dipper and says, "Don't be so sad brobro, we'll be back before you know it."

After letting out a big sigh, Dipper said "I know Mabel, it's just this has been our home for a while now and we've been through so much here. It kind of feels weird to just leave. Back in Piedmont we have mom and dad, and I miss them terribly, but here we've got so much more. This whole town is sort of like a family to use."

"I know," Mabel said, the smile on her face just a little smaller than normal, "but it'll only be for one school year. Then it's back to Gravity Falls, home of the weird." She reached out to give Dipper a pat on the back and he returned her smile, a silent thank you for her comforting.

Mabel could no longer contain herself, after seeing him calm down a bit, she immediately blurted out "So, you like Pacifica huh."

Dipper almost fell out of the bus seat from the shock. "W-w-what are you t-talking about?" he managed to stutter out, like that didn't make it any more obvious.

Mabel just looked at him in a sly way. Dipper looked away trying to hide the blush spreading across his face. "Come on Dippingsauce, you know you can't hide anything from me. Besides, we've got one heck of a long bus ride home and I'm running on 4 shots of Mabel Juice, plus my pockets are full of sugar packets. I can stay awake and annoy you till you admit it."

Dipper felt himself shutter, knowing full well what his sister was capable of, and he could tell she wasn't lying. "Alright," he admitted, "so I like her. Just please don't tell her. And no Mabel, before you say anything, I already learned my lesson with Wendy."

Mabel, hardly able to contain herself, was about to spill about her conversation with Pacifica, but two things were stopping her. The first was her promise to Pacifica and Mabel hated to break a promise. The second, however, really hit home with her. Dipper was already sad enough about leaving Gravity Falls, how depressed would he get if he knew about Pacifica's feelings.

So instead she just leaned back and asked him, "So when did you start liking her?"

"I guess after the party, when we really started to get to know each other," he said. "Also I hope you're okay with this, not starting on the best terms and all."

Mabel didn't reply at first, more focused on how she, as the ultimate matchmaker could get her brother and new best friend together. She was just starring off in space till Dipper snapped his fingers in front of her face saying "Hey, you there?"

"Huh, what was that?" Mabel asked.

"I said I hope you're okay with me liking Pacifica." Dipper repeated.

"Are you kidding," Mabel yelled, "even if I still hated her I'd be okay with it. I'm just happy you found a girl you like that you actually have a chance with."

Almost laughing, Dipper said "Right, like I actually have a chance with the most beautiful girl in Gravity Falls. She's just so WOW, and underneath the false mean exterior of hers, she is kind, considerate, smart, and…"

He stopped talking when he saw the look Mabel was giving him. He could almost feel her smile. ' _This is going to be on long bus ride_ ' he thought.

Mabel was too busy thinking ' _You have no idea Dipper. I so cannot wait for the summer to come. What is step one of operation Dipifica going to be?_ ' She was so deep into her own thoughts she didn't even notice how embarrassed Dipper got.

NINE MONTHS LATER

Dipper and Mabel were getting off the school bus, excited to be home after the last day of school. Dipper was in his new yet old style of khaki shorts with a tee shirt, obviously topped with his pine tree hat, while Mabel was still Mabel, running around with her plain pink top, purple skirt, and a sweater tied around her waist with a sun wearing sunglasses on it.

"Can you believe summer is finally here Dipper?" Mabel asked almost running into him a few times as she circled him.

"I know," Dipper exclaimed, "When we wake up tomorrow, we get to start heading back to Gravity Falls."

The twins raced up stairs to their bedrooms, quick to check their bags and make sure they weren't forgetting anything.

Mabel, packing her necessary knitting tools, plenty of yarn for about half a dozen sweaters, the special matching Dipifica sweaters she made for Dipper and Pacifica, and of course her grappling hook. As for the sweaters, they were her special gift to two of her favorite people, and were some of her best work, if she did say so herself. Grabbing plenty of extra cloths and her new bedazzler, she deemed herself ready for anything.

Dipper was packed in a more Dipper fashion. He had his vest packed away along with some new flannel shirts, shorts and his backup hat. Another year of bullies had taught him that. Also packed was Journal 3 along with his own personal journal that Grunkle Ford sent him for his birthday so he can start cataloguing the weird creatures and events of Gravity Falls himself. He couldn't keep Grunkle Ford's journal forever, after all. He also made sure to bring a compass, flashlight, and his trusty stun gun that he used against that vampire bat. "Never can be too careful," he said to himself.

Afterwards the twins went downstairs to eat dinner with their parents and Waddles. Just before the finished their mother said "Oh, right, today was the last day of school. Dipper, you can have your phone back. I hope you've learned your lesson about staying up so late on a school night talking to you _girlfriend_ ," making sure to put extra emphasis on the last word.

"I keep telling you mom, she's not my girlfriend." Dipper retorted.

"So I guess you _don't_ want this back then?" his mother asked in her sarcastic mom voice.

"Yes, please." Dipper said nearly jumping for his phone.

His mother just smiled and handed it to him. "Next time you lose it for a month, not just two weeks," their father piped in. "That goes for you too Mabel"

Dipper went to turn it on, but saw that the battery was dead. He took it up to his room to charge and came back downstairs to spend one last day with his parents before heading back to Gravity Falls. They stayed up for a while watching movies while eating popcorn and just enjoying each other's company. At around 11:30, Dipper finally goes up to his room to check his phone. He turned it on and saw a couple of missed calls, a voice mails and a virtual pile of texts.

He starts going through them, missed calls first, saw one from a friend from school, one from his mother, and one from Pacifica. He listened to the voicemail next.

" _Dipper, it's your mother, why aren't you picking up your phone? You know you're always supposed to answer when your father or I call."_ In the background, he can hear his father's voice say " _Honey, we took his cellphone, remember."_ " _Right,"_ his mother said, " _Just ignore this message sweetie."_

Dipper sighed at his mother's forgetfulness and went on to check his texts. Most were just ones from the gang back in Gravity falls saying they can't wait to see him in two weeks, but one message catches his eyes, a single message from Pacifica. He felt a knot well up in his stomach and he opened the message. It only contained three words, but Dipper felt more emotion from this text than he'd ever felt from anything in his life. 'PLEASE, HELP ME'.

Dipper dropped his phone running to Mabel's room, stumbling and swearing under his breath. He reached her door, pushed it open and saw his sister lying in bed. He ran to her and quickly awoke her with his frantic speak.

"Dipper," Mabel yawned, "what's the matter? Why aren't you in bed? We have to get up early to catch the bus."

"There's no time," he yelled, "I just saw a text from Pacifica. She needs our help. We have to go NOW."

"What, why," Mabel asked.

"Mabel," Dipper said through clenched teeth and fear, "the message is a week old."

Hearing about Pacifica fully awoke Mabel. She knew her brother tended to overreact to things, but she could see the true fear in his eyes, the worried expression he held, and the terror in his voice.

"Alright," she said, "you get mom and dad and I'll grab our bags. We'll try and head to the bus station tonight"

After Dipper left the room, Mabel got up, got dressed and tried calling Pacifica's phone, only to go straight to voicemail. So she grabbed her and Dipper's bags and made her way to the living room. Dipper came running down the stairs with two groggy and not so happy parents.

"Can't this wait till tomorrow Dipper?" their father asked. "It's almost midnight."

"I'm sorry Dad," Dipper said, "but I have to go now. I just know something terrible has happened. Please?" Their parents went from looking at Dipper over to Mabel to see what she thought about all this.

"I believe him," Mabel said. So their parents grabbed their bags, put them in the car and took them to the bus station.

After the bus finally left, Dipper and Mabel just sat there in silence. Mabel was slowly drifting off to sleep, but Dipper just couldn't relax. The knot in his stomach since seeing her text had put him on edge. He didn't feel like he'd be able to sleep for a long time. It wasn't until 4 of their 10 hour trip did he feel exhaustion finally take him. Neither he nor Mabel had any clue what to expect, but they knew, whatever it was, it had to be bad.

 **And thus ends chapter 2. Again I would like to thank all of you who already followed and/or faved my story. It came to my attention that I haven't mentioned it, so if you have any questions about my story, you can pm me or ask it in a review. I will try my best to answer the questions, and may post them in a manner such as this, as long as it isn't too much of a spoiler. With that…**

 **emowolf15 – thanks for the review, as of this story there will not be any MaBill, but maybe in a later story. Just need to get some ideas first.**

 **Hope to see you all around for chapter 3.**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Wow, this is turning out better than I thought, and it makes me so happy to see how many people are actually reading my story. Please continue to read and review my story. Thanks again, and so here's chapter 3.**

Chapter 3:

Dipper and Mabel were looking out over a cliff, and saw the smoldering remains of Gravity Falls. The terror on their faces was enough to leave anyone in shock. They could hear the familiar laughter of a not so friendly dream demon. They turned and saw a shadowy Bill, "SO, DO YOU LIKE WHAT I DID WITH THE TOWN? PRETTY SOON I'LL HAVE THE WHOLE WORLD EITHER BOWING DOWN OR LOOKING LIKE THIS. IT'S TOO BAD YOU WERE TOO LATE TO STOP ME PINE TREE, NOT THAT YOU'LL HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT BEING AROUND TO SEE ANY OF THIS. A HA HAH HAHAHAH!"

Back to reality, Dipper and Mabel were leaning on each other; sound asleep, when an abrupt stop from the bus brought them back to the world of consciousness. They looked at each other with a scared look in their eyes.

"Did you just see…" Dipper started.

"Mhmm," Mabel nodded, "But I sure wish I hadn't."

"You don't think that's already happened do you?" he asked with dread on his face.

Forcing a smile, Mabel said "Of course not. If Bill tried anything like that, Grunkle Ford would obviously stop him."

Losing her smile, Mabel said in a less enthusiastic tone "Wouldn't he?"

Just then, the bus driver called out to them. "Hey, are you kids sure this is where you want to be? It looks pretty creepy to me."

Dipper made his way to the front of the bus with Mabel following behind. It was then that he saw what gave the elderly bus driver pause. The town of Gravity Falls was nestled in front of them, but instead of a small, bustling town, the twins saw an almost abandoned ghost town. But what truly shocked them was that there was no manor on top of the hill that overlooked the town, but a menacing darkened tower looming high into the clouds.

From where they were standing, the twins could see the once grand fence with a large NW on the gate, but beyond that was nothing that reminded them of what was once there. A large triangular base, occupying almost the original area of the manor, was standing nearly ten feet tall. Inside the triangular area were three, equal sized, stone towers meeting into a large cylinder like section. There was a balcony of sorts on the upper edge of this, while a many doored, smaller cylindrical tower arose from the center of that. At the top was a spire like roof with an eye of providence rested on top. Dark clouds circled around the peak, almost as if it was the cause of them.

Mabel ran off the bus and threw up in the bushes on the side of the road. Dipper went and grabbed their bags and followed her off the bus. The bus driver tried to stop him, "It don't look safe here sonny. Maybe I better take you back home."

"Thanks," Dipper replied, "but this is where we need to be. You should probably get out of here thou."

Normally the old man would never leave two children in such a menacing looking place, but that giant eye seemed to be glaring at him since he stopped. The fear finally getting to him, he turned the bus around and drove back south down the road.

Walking over to comfort Mabel, Dipper said, "We'll get to the bottom of this. Besides, I'm sure Pacifica is fine. For now we should call Grunkle Stan to have him come pick us up."

"How could this of even happened?" Mabel whimpered out, still feeling her stomach turn from the sight of the tower and the fear she felt for Pacifica, "What could have even caused this?"

"I don't know," Dipper said, "but we've got another problem. I can't seem to get any cell service around here. I guess that would explain why no one has called to try and warn us about this since Pacifica's text."

"Dipper, I'm scared," Mabel whispered, curling herself into a ball on the ground.

Dipper bent down and helped his sister off the ground saying "It'll be okay Mabel, I'm here."

The twins started making their way down the road, bags in hand, toward the desolate looking town, all the while being watched by the giant eye.

Meanwhile, on the edge of town, just into the forest, stood the Mystery Shack. From the outside could be seen a pair of binoculars pressed between the blinds of the window. "Mr. Pines," called out Soos, "I just saw a bus on the edge of town. I think someone got off and are walking into town."

"Who was it Soos?" asked Stan, "Was it the twins, are they here?"

"I'm not sure dude, but it might be a good idea to have someone check it out either way," replied Soos.

"Hold on a moment," said Ford, "What if it's just Bill trying to trick us again? We can't risk anyone again. Bill almost got Robbie last time he went out."

"Yeah," Stan said in a questioning tone, "then what are supposed to do then?"

"For now, we wait," Ford replied.

"But what about all the monsters in town dude? There are some pretty vicious things out there. If it really is the twins, shouldn't we, like, try and save them and stuff?" asked Soos.

"If it really is them, then they should be able to make it here. Dipper still has my third journal after all. Most of what's running around town is either in that book, or Dipper and Mabel dealt with it at least once last summer. They'll be fine, I hope," said Ford, the last part under his breath.

The group listened to Ford, since he had the most experience dealing with Bill, but they were starting to get impatient. It had been about a week since the Northwest home exploded and the resulting darkness attracted all sorts of monsters and creatures from the surrounding woods into the city. There were flying eyeballs moving down the streets, the manotaurs were hanging out around the lumber mill, breaking whatever they wanted in contests of strengths, and even the gnomes were raiding the supermarket looking for food to eat.

Dipper and Mabel noticed the large number of creatures in town from a distance. They jump into the bushes along the edge of the nearest building to take cover and develop a plan of action.

"So what now Dip?" asked Mabel. "You're the one with the journal, so think of something."

"I don't know Mabel," started Dipper, flipping through the journal, "I can distract the manotaurs with some jerky from my bag, and the flying eyeballs, apparently have terrible eyesight. Huh, weird. It says they mark their territory with a tear like substance that emits a sort of ultraviolet light that they are able to pick up on."

"Without the leaf blower, I don't want to go anywhere near the gnomes!" exclaimed Mabel.

"I hear that," said Dipper, "let's start by getting to the mall. Afterwards we'll make our way towards the museum, over to Greasy's Diner and then head for the Mystery Shack."

The two set out down a couple of side streets in the direction of the mall. As long as they avoided any of the flying eyeballs strange liquid on the ground, they were easy enough to get past. The first problem arose once they actually got just outside the area of the mall.

"Dipper, do you SEE that?" Mabel whispered.

"It can't be," Dipper whispered back, "how is THAT even here."

Sitting in front of the mall, shifting through forms it saw pass by, was experiment #210, The Shape Shifter. The way it just kept changing its form made it seem almost bored, like it was waiting for some promised entertainment that had never arrived.

"I thought we froze him underneath the tree bunker," said Mabel.

"Bill must've found a way to free him," answered Dipper. "I can only imagine what kind of horror Bill has planned if he thought releasing the shape shifter into the streets was a good idea."

"Whatever it is, I say we steer clear of here until we're better prepared to fight it. We should probably head back down the street behind us closer to the edge of town," said Mabel.

The kids took a small road back towards the edge of town till they saw what looked like a large tree lying across the road. "I guess we could just climb over it," said Dipper. He took a step forward, but Mabel grabbed his shoulder.

"What's wrong Mabel?" Dipper asked.

"Dipper, the tree just moved. Don't give me that look, I know it sounds crazy, but we are in Gravity Falls," Mabel argued. Just as Dipper was about to say something, a large wooden arm reached up and scratched down the side of the tree.

"See," Mabel said.

Dipper was stunned, "It's a wood giant. We need to move, now."

The children were close enough that they started to head towards Greasy's. They saw a group of manotaurs headed their way and tossed a bag of jerky away from their direction of travel. They made it to Greasy's but quickly realized that the path forward was blocked. They were about to head back, but the manotaurs had already devoured the jerky and were heading their way.

"Now what do we do?" asked Mabel, her voice starting to quiver.

Dipper didn't answer. He didn't know what to do. He had never been in a situation like this. He was scared, not only that he was unable to do anything, but because he was letting down Mabel, Pacifica, and all of Gravity Falls.

Just when he was about to give up, he heard something from behind the diner. There was a very familiar sound to Dipper. Unknowingly to himself, he started to quietly sing _Disco Girl_.

"What are singing for?" Mabel asked franticly.

"Huh?" Dipper responded, "Was I singing?"

"My friend, come with me," a mysterious voice said from behind the diner.

"Whose there?" Dipper asked.

His answer came when the source of the voice stepped out of the shadows. Standing in front of the twins was the multi-bear. "I can lead you safely through the woods to the shack where your family is, just follow me," he said.

Mabel pulled back a little and hid behind Dipper. "It's okay Mabel, this guy is friendly. He's a friend of mine. We can trust him," Dipper told her. Seeing the truth in her brother's eyes, she nodded her head and followed behind.

After multi-bear lead them to the shack, he turned to them and said, "You once spared my life Dipper, now I have repaid the favor. I hope we can meet again when this ordeal is over. May you go in peace and be safe." Afterwards he walked away, back into the woods toward his cave.

"Well, at least we're here," Dipper said. Just then, Soos burst out of the shack, grabbed them and said, "Dudes, it's really you, you're here."

"Ha-ha, Soos, we're so glad to see you," said Mabel.

Dipper asked, "Where are Grunkles Stan and Ford?"

Grunkle Ford walked out of the shack and answered, "We're here, along with a few others you know. Come inside quick. We have much to talk about."

 **So that's it for Chapter 3. Sorry about the long wait for an update, but I've been really busy the past week. The next few chapters may take a while to get out as well so please be patient. Thanks again for all the favs, follows, and reviews. Please continue to read and I hope you all like this story.**

 **Erised101 – thank you very much, I hope the rest of the story meets your expectations**

 **Vampirehunter555 – thanks for the idea, hope I get the chance to use it, or something like it for a story**

 **Mr burrito – thanks for the review, hope you continue to like the story**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Sorry about the long wait on this update everyone. I've been busy getting everything ready for school which starts up soon. I've been battling some issues with writer's block on the center and finer details of this chapter. I've also been using a buddy of mine to bounce ideas around to get a basic design for my OC. While he won't appear in this chapter, nor will he be a romance character for Mabel in this story, he is coming along fine and may be used in other stories later. As for this chapter, it's all about Pacifica, with a few small sections for Bill. We need to see what's been happening to her, so sit back, relax, and travel to the Northwest safe room of '** ** _What If?'._**

Chapter 4:  
Pacifica sat in the safe room waiting. She had no idea how much time had passed since she locked herself in here. Luckily the butlers had kept the room fully stocked with nonperishable foods in case anything ever happened, installed a small power generator with some extra fuel, and a fully functional bathroom. Although her resources were starting to dwindle, she still held hope that Dipper would come for her.

Without a means to tell time, she wasn't sure of how long it had been, but she thought it had been about a week. She tried her best to stay active and alert when she was awake, but she soon realized that she was spending a lot of time sleeping.

Pacifica was a smart girl. She was able to recognize her own symptoms: depression, excess sleeping, and loss of appetite. She was starting to go through the early stages and suffer cabin fever. She knew she had to get the hell out of there as quickly as possible.

There was suddenly a loud knocking and pounding on the safe room door. Pacifica didn't even jump from the surprise. She had grown accustomed to the odd and sudden sounds she would hear from the darkness above her outside the safe room. She may not know what was out there, but whatever it was, it no longer surprised her. Pacifica didn't have a clue what could be causing the noise; what sort of unearthly monstrosities now resided above her.

Thou the noises didn't surprise her anymore, didn't mean it didn't scare her. Ever since this whole event started, whenever she was asleep, she would constantly have nightmares unlike any she had had before. Terrifying visions of strange dark creatures and the sight of her friends being killed would flash before her eyes. Nothing seemed to give her even a little escape from the tragic hell she now found herself in.

In her dreams, Pacifica had seen vast monsters traversing the town, hordes of horrors rampaging the streets, and demonic entities chasing down and tearing the only people left in this town she had faith in limb from limb. The Stan twins, Mabel, Wendy and her friends, Soos, and worst of all Dipper, all hunted down and killed in front of her, and their wasn't a thing she could do to stop it.

This was pure torture for Pacifica. While it did hurt to see the friends she had finally make be takin away from her again and again, it was the tightening of her chest that she felt every time she saw Dipper's face. The image still clearly visible after she would awaken: a brave expression barely covering his inner fear as he faced down dozens of monsters, all while trying to protect her. This sight kept coming back to her, and it scared her beyond anything else around her.

Unbeknownst to her, this was a certain dream demon's own little way of entertaining himself with his 'captive' audience until all his pawns were in their place. He enjoyed watching her reactions, the pain, the suffering she was experiencing, all for his own boredom.

Bill sat in a tall chair at the end of a long room, pillars placed along the length with a torch mounted on each. His back was to the room, single eye focused on the many screens visible in front of him. Bill kept a vigilant eye over the town of Gravity Falls, awaiting the arrival of the last few players.

"ITS ALMOST TIME," Bill said to himself, "SOON ALL THE PIECES WILL HAVE GATHERED, THEN I'LL FINALLY GET BACK WHAT WAS TAKEN FROM ME ALL THOSE CENTURIES AGO."

"Master," said a slimy muck like creature as he slinked his way towards Bill, "the bus carrying the two children was seen a few miles from the city limits. They will be here momentarily. Should we have a few monsters pick them up and bring them here?"

"NO, THEY WILL COME TO ME IN DUE TIME," said Bill.

Bill turned the eye at the top of his tower in the direction his minion had told him the twins were arriving from. He decided to keep watch over them to see how their approach through town would be. Firstly thou, his mind was ready for a little trip. He could sense the twins were asleep, even from this distance. He decided to pay them a little visit; after all, even Bill was starting to get bored of only torturing Pacifica.

After sending the twins a little message, Bill returned to his now physical form. "WITH PINE TREE AND SHOOTING STAR ARRIVING SHORTLY, ONLY ONE MORE PIECE TO GATHER, THEN THE NEXT PHASE OF MY PLAN CAN COMMENCE."

Bill had been pulling the strings in Gravity Falls for generations now, waiting for all the necessary points to align for him. "ONCE ICE BAG GETS HERE WE WILL PREPARE TO ATTACK THAT ACURSED _MYSTERY SHACK_ ," said Bill to no one in particular, "BUT FIRST ITS TIME TO RETRIEVE OUR LITTLE LLAMA IN THE FLOORBOARDS."

Back to Pacifica, we see her sitting in the middle of the room. Having just awoken from another nightmare, she was holding onto her knees, sweaty and breathing hard. "This was one of the worst ones yet," she lamented, "why did that have to happen in my dream. Dipper arrived at the ruins of the mansion, opened the door to the safe room, reached down to pull me up to him, then…then…AAAHHHH"

Pacifica yelled at the top of her lungs, remembering the sight of Dipper's head falling into the room, landing square in her lap. The image of his expression, looking at her with regret and hatred, coupled with the blood splatter and drops falling down around her. It was a wonder she still had any sanity left after being at the dream demons mercy for so long.

Pacifica reached for the bottle of water she had opened earlier to try and calm herself. She took a drink and was returning the bottle to its location when she heard the door start to open.

"Dipper, is that you?" Pacifica started to ask, but she started to realize too late that even if it was Dipper, the door should be locked. "No, you stay away from me you … you geometric monster."

"GREAT NEWS KID, YOUR BOYFRIENDS BACK IN TOWN," Bill said, "ITS TIME I GOT YOU READY FOR YOUR PART IN THIS LITTLE GAME OF OURS."

 **Thus is how chapter 4 ends. Like I said earlier sorry it's been a while since my last update. I've had the beginning and end to this chapter in mind for some time, but the middle was taking a while to write. You'll also notice this chapter is shorter than my previous ones. I've already got ideas for the next chapter so it should be longer. We're also getting to the darker side of the story. My OC should also be appearing in chapter 5. If you haven't already guessed, I am making an OC be the ice bag instead of it being Wendy. I'll get the next chapter out ASAP, but I don't know when that will be as I've started school now.**

 **I've made a habit of making a comment to all who review in these end notes, sort of my own little shout out to you the readers, letting you know I do read you reviews and appreciate you taking the time to read and enjoy my stories so thank you very much.**

 **Faller21ro – thanks for the excitement in my story**

 **Gamelover41592 – I hope the story doesn't disappoint**

 **Guest – thanks for reading it, thank you for the compliment, and I hope this chapter sates your curiosity of the direction for now.**

 **Rorscarch – The wait is over my friend, chapter 4 now, and chapter 5 soon…hopefully**


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Probably should have mentioned this earlier, but the previous chapter takes place during the twin's bus ride to Gravity Falls. As I've said earlier my OC will appear in this chapter, and I have a few plans for him. Before anyone asks, NO, there will be no [OC, anyone] shipping in this particular story. Also I listed adventure as the primary genre, romance is secondary with less importance to the overall plot line, but it will present itself near the end … other than being part of Dipper's motivation. Also, I have not mentioned this yet, but this particular story, for certain main plot points later on, does not take any information from** ** _Dungeons, Dungeons and More Dungeons_** **and beyond into account. We will now be returning to the Mystery Shack.**

"So," started Dipper, "what happened? Where is everyone, and why is there a dark tower where the Northwest mansion should be?" Dipper looked around the room at all the people who were gathered in the Mystery Shack. Seated in front of him where his Grunkles Stan and Ford, Soos by Stan's side, Robbie was sitting in the corner putting someone in a headlock. Mabel was at his side, eagerly awaiting some ones response.

For a moment, everyone was silent, and then Ford spoke up. "While I was down in my lab about a week ago, in the middle of the night, some of my early paranormal sensors started going haywire. At first I thought it was a malfunction, but then my radar showed a high concentration of energy converging on the mansion."

"After checking all the readings, I knew there was only one think that could be going on, and I knew it was too late to stop it," said Ford.

"Around that time," chimed in Stan, "most of the town was woken up by a large explosion similar to the one you two caused when you made Gideon's robot fall from the bridge."

"I'm still mad about that!" yelled a voice from the corner.

This caught Dipper and Mabel's attention. Thou it had been almost a year since they heard that whiny little voice, they recognized it immediately. Robbie stood up releasing his hostage with a glare, and the short figure of li'l Gideon stepped out of the shadows. Mabel jumped behind Dipper, trying to get as much cover form the little wierdo as she could. Dipper clenched his fist ready to pounce at his enemy, the hatred he felt for the torture he had put them through burning in his eyes.

Keeping his composer the best he could while still guarding his sister, Dipper asked in a heated tone "What is _HE_ doing here?" Dipper was practically hissing his question.

"You're supposed to be the smart one, and you can't even figure out that you need little old me," yelled Gideon in his self-righteous way. "I'm just as important to this as you are." He then turned his head slightly to Mabel and sweetly said, "You hear that my little Mabel-bean, you and I have more in common than you thought. You can rely on me to protect you through this whole ordeal."

This made Mabel shutter and strengthen her grip on her brother's shirt. Dipper had to hold himself back from punching the little twerp. Just as he was about to lose control, Grunkle Ford stepped forward snapping a finger signal to Robbie, and saying "Yes yes, you're important," Grunkle Ford began as Robbie grabbed Gideon and carried him back to the corner.

"Now, getting back to the topic at hand," continued Ford, "after the explosion, that dreadful tower you saw on your way into town formed by magic. The debris from the Northwest home just gathered around the site and there it was."

"Bill did this," said Dipper, anger welling up inside him.

"Yes," answered Ford, "your right, but how did you know?"

"He appeared to us in the dreamscape," chimed Mabel, after regaining her composer from seeing Gideon, "He told us he had big plans for the rest of the world."

"What about Pacifica," asked Dipper, "have you heard any word on her condition or whereabouts?"

At first Ford was silent. He reached up to scratch the back of his head as small tears started to form in Dipper's eyes. "There hasn't been any news about her Dipper, but I may have some good news."

Dipper listened and watched as Ford walked to the wall and pulled a screen down to reveal an enlarged picture of Bill and his wheel from the journals. Most of the symbols had names written near them, showing who was who in Bill's plan.

"As you can see, we were able to use what we know of Bill's naming habit and were able to correlate what each of these symbols are for. You're the pine tree, Mabel is the shooting star, so on so forth. The only two not yet confirmed are the llama and ice bag. I believe that Pacifica is the llama." Ford said. "This would mean, while yes she is in danger being in this whole situation, she is still alive for the moment."

Dipper relaxed a little bit after hearing this, knowing that he still had the chance to save Pacifica put him at ease for the moment. "So, we know Bill somehow caused the Northwest mansion to explode, and after building his own tower, was able to get the supernatural creatures to start gathering in the town. But, I'm still clueless as to how, why, and for what reason he did all this."

"Hey, wait a minute, if Bill destroyed the mansion and started summoning the creatures in the woods to him as servants or lackeys or whatever, then what happened to all the townsfolk?" asked Mabel. She quickly gasped and started to tear up, "They aren't all dead … are they?"

"No, no, no sweetie," comforted Stan, "it's all okay. Being the local masters of mystery that we Pines twins are, the people quickly gathered to the mystery shack when the mansion went up. Ford and I were able to get enough buses down here evacuate all the townspeople away to safety. Although, unless we stop Bill, there won't be anywhere that is safe."

"But to answer your questions, it all goes back to the wheel Dipper," said Ford, "In all my years of research, especially in the multiverse, I was able to learn a few things about Bill that he probably didn't want me to know. It seems that Bill isn't just some dream demon, but is more like a lesser god in his own right. His dream form state is able to exist across all the different dimensions, but his interactions with the physical world are limited. That's why he relies so much on making deals; he can do anything in the dreamscape, but if he were to be brought to our plan of existence in physical form, his powers would be limitless. That is the why of it, but as to how, I fear a dark ritual that should never have taken place was done."

"If I had to hazard a guess," spoke up Grunkle Stan for the first time in a while, "Those no good parents of Pacifica have made one too many deals with the floating shape and probably became his puppets. He most likely took control of them in order to make them do that creepy voodoo crap."

"Quite right Stan," said Ford, "the exploding mansion was also most likely an aftermath cause of the ritual itself."

"Lastly, Dipper," began Ford, "you wanted to know for what reason Bill would go through all this trouble, and the simple answer is a body. I may have said that in the physical plane his powers would have no equal, but his triangular form is actually the result of eons traveling the multiverse while existing in the dreamscape. But if Bill is able to regain a truly physical form, he will become unstoppable."

Hesitantly, Mabel asked "How would Bill go about getting a body?"

"That is where the wheel comes into play, and why we are all so important to this," said Ford. "Bill needs all of us to be able to complete his plan."

"If that's the case, why don't we scatter?" asked Robbie from the corner of the room, still keeping a grip on the little annoying boy.

"Because," answered Ford, "As much as he needs us for his plan, we are also the key to his eternal defeat. His wheel is like a two edged sword, it cuts both his enemies and himself."

"So then," began Dipper, I guess that means we'll need to figure out who ice bag is." Dipper was cut off by the sound of the front door opening. Everyone jumped to a ready position, unsure of whom the intruder was.

After the door fully opened a young man walked through the door, a boy of early teens, clearly of Native American descent, with deep black hair that went down to his neck. He was wearing khaki shorts and a tan button up shirt and carrying a large rucksack.

"Soos," yelled Stan, "you were supposed to be keeping lookout!"

"Don't worry," said the boy, "I'm here to help. I've been receiving strange visions in my dreams to come to this location. You may call me Alex, Alex Roswell. I am looking for Mr. Stanford Pines."

"Wait a minute," said Ford, "did you say Roswell, as in Melvin Roswell?"

"Yes, that was my grandfather. He told me many of the stories from when he knew you. You would always talk to him about your research."

Dipper, defense as always, asked "Are you sure we can trust him, this timing of his arrival just seems too coincidental."

Ford, letting down his guard and approaching the boy said back to Dipper, "It's not a matter of trust. If he is receiving visions in his dreams from Bill, that means he is most likely ice bag. Trust or not, we need him."

Dipper didn't like this, he couldn't explain it, but he had the same feeling from just before seeing Pacifica's text. This deep feeling of dread and foreboding was welling up inside him from the deepest pits of his stomach, but he just couldn't explain why.

He looked around the room to see if anyone else felt it, but Soos, Mabel, Stan and Robbie were all but oblivious to the new guest, while Ford was too busy reminiscing about the 'Good old times' with Alex about his grandfather. No, what really drove the final nail in Dipper's coffin of disbelief was that with just one look, Gideon had the same feeling as Dipper.

The two of them looked at each other, the rest of the world seeming to stop then looked back to Alex, this stranger who just appears out of nowhere and seems to be the final piece to whatever this is. This, the fact that he and Gideon were agreeing on anything, scared Dipper to his core.

Dipper couldn't lower his guard and was ready to do whatever he had to in order to protect his family. He had to keep an eye on this new guy, and it seemed he may have some help with this.

 **Yeah, I know, not very foreshadowy if it seems kinda obvious, but I am writing the end of this chapter half asleep. I finally introduced my OC for this story and was wondering what you all think. His original purpose was just to be the character for the ice bag, but some input from a supporter gave him a slightly new role. Either way, this story is still heating up, but I don't know if I'll be able to get the ten or so chapters I was originally hoping for. Well, we'll see what happens.**

 **On a side note, I have started working on plans for another, shorter (maybe one-shot, maybe couple chapter) stories and may end up posting them in between chapters for this story. Don't want to burn myself out on it, ya know. Anyway, please review if you can, as a writer, it really is a great feeling to know there are people out there that are not only reading, but enjoying my story. Thanks again**

 **I may come and edit this chapters end a little bit once i've had a break from it and reread it later on.**

 **Gamelover41592 – thanks again for reading my story, and I've already messaged you about ice bag. Thanks for the idea.**

 **– thanks, and I will continue to try my hardest for loyal fans like you.**

 **Imwhatsleft – thank you very much, while I wouldn't consider my story the best, especially compared to other stories I've read, I truly appreciate the sincerity of your words.**


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: Thanks again for all the reviews I've received for this story. Every time I get a notification of a fav, follow, or review, it makes me happy. The feeling you get from knowing people like your stories is truly incredible. Now, as for** ** _What If_** **, the story is about halfway done at this point, and we're not even near the climax. I would like it to be known that I have the full story almost completely planned out, and had this planned before the episode '** ** _The Last Mabelcorn_** **'. As I watched the episode with the Dipper and Ford components, I was thinking, man, this is really close to my story, concept wise, so please keep that in mind when reading this and seeing possible later episodes. As I've said, I've been writing other short stories in between the chapters of this, so please take a look at those if you haven't already between chapters. I'm also working on other stories so as not to get burned out on one plot. I only do this, because if I don't, the ideas of the other stories will distract me from other things, so I write them as they come.**

After Alex got settled he began to tell the others about himself. He was sitting on the floor next to the dinosaur skull, leaning against his rucksack. "As I said earlier," he began, "my name is Alex Roswell, grandson of Melvin Roswell. I am of Native American descent, and my family's home was originally a reservation near Roswell, New Mexico. When my great-great grandfather wanted to leave the reservation to see other areas, he set out into America. He decided to become an American citizen, so when he did he changed his name to Connor Roswell. The Roswell was to remember where our family came from."

Alex stopped for a second, giving the group time to let all that sink in. He then continued with, "From there, my great-great grandfather began to travel the country. He survived by hunting and camping out where he could. After a while, he settled down and had a family. Two generations later my grandfather studied much of the strange, just like Ford Pines. My grandfather was trying to see if there was any validity to the old legends of our people. He told me he met Mr. Pines for a short time here in Oregon."

"Yes," chimed in Ford, "Melvin was an intelligent man. He helped me get started on Native American creatures that seemed to be related creatures I had been cataloguing here in Gravity Falls."

"After my grandfather left Oregon to study farther south, he ended up back in New Mexico, where he eventually settled down. He would share most of his research and theories with me. Eventually, I started doing some research myself. Recently, however, I've been having dreams of a talking triangle who calls himself Bill. He kept telling me of this place, of his old associate Stanford Pines and that something big was going to be going down."

This news brought a sour expression to almost every in the room. "At first, I was excited, since my grandfather told me of Stanford, and I was ready to try and learn from you. But now that I've gotten here, I see that I was tricked here, and that this Bill cannot be trusted. After I saw the town, I knew I had to try to help."

After Alex had finished his introduction and family history, the group decided to plan for an attack on Bill's keep. While the others started to ready supplies for the raid of the tower, Ford pulled Dipper to the side and took him to the basement. "Dipper, my boy, I need to show you something." Ford took him to the large room where the two had first meet, where the portal had been. There was a large curtain covering the back half of the room.

"What do you need Grunkle Ford, I really should be getting ready. I need to be prepared to save Pacifica," Dipper said, then turned bright red, quickly adding, "and everyone else."

"Dipper, you can worry about your girlfriend later, but first I need to show you this." Ford reached towards a cord and pulled it down to reveal behind the curtain was a fully repaired world portal.

"You fixed it, but I thought you said it could destroy the whole world! Why would you fix something so dangerous?" Dipper yelled anxiously.

"I know it seems odd Dipper," Ford said calmly, "but this is also the only way to defeat Bill. As I said upstairs, Bill needs us to create a physical body in this plane to unlock his full powers. You see, Bill has had many forms over the eons of his existence, but being in the dreamscape has allowed him some advantages and disadvantages. You see Dipper, the dreamscape is a special plane of existence that is connected to all possible universes, but only a master of the mind can truly travel them to any plane of existence they desire, otherwise, a traveler would only stay in the dreamscape that is surrounding the universe in which they entered."

"Whoa," said Dipper, a look of shock on his face. "But how does that relate to the world portal?"

"I'm getting to that," Ford said with an annoyed look on his face. "Now as I was saying, Bill is a being that physically only existed in the dreamscape, but over the eons of traveling between dimensions, his main form slowly changed to what it is today. Bill has unspeakable power, especially in the dreamscape, but here in any physical plane of existence, he is unable to use the full extent of his powers. That changes if he gets a physical body."

"Now, as for the portal, that is the key to his physical form. The world portal is a door, but it's also like a tunnel. It uses the dreamscape as a medium, a kind of bridge to allow access to other worlds. Bill can use that to gain physical access. He needs us as a sacrifice. He will use the world portal to extract our souls, our very essence, into the dreamscape to create a physical body, capable of using his full power, and being able to freely travel in between any and all worlds at will. He would become a virtual god."

"We won't let that happen," Dipper said. "But, if the portal allows this, why did you rebuild it?"

Ford sighed, "As much as it can destroy us all, it is the only way to save us and the world as well. As I mentioned, Bill may still be powerful in our plane of existence, but he doesn't have all his powers. For one thing, he cannot control us, nor can he reenter the dreamscape. He may be able to manipulate matter, as you can tell from that dark tower, but only matter already in existence."

"Wait a minute," Dipper said, "when you say he can't enter the dreamscape, that means we can..."

"Exactly, we can send Bill into the world portal, trapping him in an empty dimension with diminished powers. This would stop him once and for all."

"How are we going to get Bill to the portal thou?" asked Dipper, as they walked to the elevator.

"I've got a secret weapon for that," Ford said with a wink, "I've been working on a new gun that acts like a spectral vacuum."

"You mean like from the Ghostbusters movie?" Dipper asked.

"In a way yes," responded Ford, "but instead of ghosts, it works on any sort of supernatural spectral being. It vacuums up the energy, and traps it in a special orb. I'll bring the orb back to the lab, activate the portal one last time, and through Bill into an empty pocket dimension."

"But isn't Bill solid here?" questioned Dipper.

"Only if he stays strong. If we can weaken him somehow, he'll maintain a presence in this plane of existence, but he may temporarily regain a spectral form."

"Well," said Dipper, "at least we have a plan."

After finishing their talk, the two returned to the elevator to rejoin the others in preparing for their assault on Bill's keep. As the elevator reached the top, and they stepped out from behind the vending machine, they saw Stan preparing a pile of weapons and gear. Stan put a pair of brass knuckles on each hand and had two metal baseball bats across his back like swords.

Robbie borrowed some brass knuckles from Stan and had armor plating on his bike. His job was to be a front line rider, helping to clear a path for the others. Gideon had a small backpack which two robotic arms and a helmet that somehow fit over his hair. His torso was unprotected, so Stan put an umpire chest guard over him.

Soos was given a laser tag styled suit, that generated a small barrier over his body, and a laser weapon that stunned anything it shoots for an hour, all tech courtesy of Ford. Mabel had her grappling hook attached to her waist, football helmet on her head, and a golf club in hand. Dipper knew how effective she could be with that, so he made sure to give her some space.

Alex was pulling a collapsible baton out of his bag, and tied his hair up with a headband to completely uncover his face. He then put his bag back on his back.

Ford began, "Seeing as, including Pacifica who's currently in the tower, all the people Bill needs are here; it's time to plan our attack. From the monitoring I've been able to do, it seems the eye on the top of the tower can see anywhere in the town. It has a weakness however; it seems to be useless in direct light, which is one reason why Bill created the dark clouds over the town."

Mabel spoke up, saying "So all we need to do is get the clouds to go away for a short while?"

"And how exactly are we going to do that pint-size?" chimed Robbie in a sarcastic tone.

"Hey," said Stan a little loudly, "where all stressed here, but don't take any of your frustration out on my niece."

"Sorry Mr. Pines," Robbie replied, "old habits die hard. But seriously, how are we supposed to make magic clouds go away. I don't suppose any of you have the same powers as Storm from the x-men."

"Actually," responded Ford, "there is a spell I learned for temporary weather alterations. Sometimes, you need to be able to have just the right weather for some creatures to appear."

"You have a spell that can do that?!" asked Dipper excitedly.

"Yes and no," Ford replied, "I had one written down in journal two, but the page seems to be missing."

At this Dipper looked at Gideon who reluctantly went to a bag in the corner and gave a folder of pages from the journal. Ford took them and placed them inside the cover of journal two, and showed the weather page to everyone.

"So, once I recite the spell, the clouds will disperse and give us some protection from the tower's gaze. Bill will know were coming, so we need to move fast to get there to have a chance of winning this. Once we get to the base of the tower, expect some monster resistance, from there, I'll lead the charge to take out Bill."

"Alright," said Stan, "Let's get this over with."

As Ford began to recite the spell, the air in the cabin began to feel warmer. The group looked to the front door and windows to see the bleak outside world slow begin to brighten. As soon as Ford stopped talking, the sky erupted in a bright light.

"Bill will be trying to get the clouds back for a short while, so now we need to move," said Ford.

Ford went running out the door, followed next by Robbie, Gideon, and Soos. After them went Mabel and Stan. Dipper went charging out the door, but heard the screen slam behind him. He turned back just as Alex came running out the door bag in hand. Dipper felt something off, but quickly turned back towards the group waving Alex to hurry up. The group was making their assault on Bill's keep, and nothing was going to stand in Dipper's way of getting to Pacifica.

 **So I finally got chapter six of this story done. I hope you like it and that it at least gets you excited for the next few story updates. This ending author's note won't be too long, but be assured, more updates are coming.**

 **Gamelover41592 – thanks for your review as always.**

 **ArgeRTN – thanks for the support.**

 **Tyrekem576 – glad you like it, here's the next one.**

 **Lemontae – it's fine that you didn't review until chapter 5, can't wait to see what you have to say about this one.**

 **Rowsonsonia and Sttaseen – firstly, thanks to the both of you for reading my story. I apologize that it's been a while since the last update, but I hope this chapter makes up for it. Hopefully the next one won't take as long.**


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: Hello, and welcome back to the thrilling peak to the oddity that is my mind. I have stated in other author notes that I do battle with terrible procrastination, but I am finally in the writing mood again, so here is the start of the next chapter of What If. I know this has been kind of a cliffhanger and all, but the story isn't over yet. As always, I don't own any of the characters and settings, other than my OCs, used. Nor do I own Gravity Falls. I would like to take a moment to thank Alex Hirsch for creating such a ripe and rich universe for fans to explore and the world of Gravity Falls will be missed. I will continue to write stories until I can't think of anything.**

Chapter 7:

Despite their age, Stan and Ford lead the charge through the town. Robbie had already cleared a path on his bike and was circling back around to check on the group. Monsters of all shapes and sizes were starting to appear. A small band of trolls were approaching but Stan headed them off. He gave the leading troll a right uppercut to its jaw, knocking the creature out clean. The other trolls became enraged and started attacking.

One went after Mabel, but Gideon caught its wrist with the robotic arm. He held its arm behind its back while Dipper shot it with a ray gun from Ford's lab. The monster was frozen in place. While they were fighting the trolls, a small group of spider-centaurs came upon the group.

One shot some webbing and caught Robbie's back bike tire. He leapt off his bike and punched one square in the jaw, knocking it out cold. He managed to hold off three more until the others showed up.

"I could really use a hand over here," yelled Robbie to the others.

"Then allow me to offer my service," said a loud, booming voice.

"Who said that?" questioned Robbie.

Just as he asked a giant living hand fell from the sky. It had eyes on the end of each finger and an x-shaped mouth in the center of its palm. It landed with a loud thud causing the ground to shake. The creature lunged forward, crushing monsters and bike alike, Robbie barely rolling out of the way in time. The group continued to fight as more monsters all shapes and sizes gathered around them.

Ford and Stan knocked out another troll as the group was slowly surrounded. With their backs to each other, Gideon spoke out, "Great, I'm gonna die in this hell hole eaten by a giant hand monster or something."

"Not yet you're not," replied Alex as he smashed a smaller monster over the head with his baton. The group seemed to be holding their own when the monsters started to back away slowly.

"Yeah," cried out Dipper, "we're doing it."

"Hold up," answered Ford, "Something doesn't feel right. Everyone, stay on your toes."

Almost as if on cue, a large, winged creature appeared from the clouds. As it descended upon our heroes, the visage of the creature came into view. Its three heads on the ends of long necks were vulture like in appearance, thou more prehistoric. It had ten great wings sprouting from its back and in place of legs were a plethora of tentacles. Its body was covered in deep red fur that only seemed to fill the group with fear. As it came closer to the group, some of the tentacles started to grab randomly at whatever they could. One grabbed a troll that was still to close, another crushing a mailbox in its grip.

"Get to cover quickly," Ford yelled, but by then it was already upon them. Robbie and Stan were abducted much like the troll had been, and more tentacles were falling around the group. Gideon managed to sever the ends of a few of the tentacles before they crushed his robotic arms and captured him as well.

"Dipper, you need to run and regroup," yelled Ford, Shooting the creature with a laser gun.

Dipper turned to argue, but was sidetracked by Mabel's scream for help. "Get your tentacle away from my sister you freak of nature!" As he ran toward the tentacle beginning to wrap around his sister he grabbed a piece of shrapnel off the ground from an old damaged traffic sign.

Dipper plunged the sharp piece of metal into the tentacle releasing a spray of purple blood from the gash. The creature released a yelp of pain and swung the injured tentacle around rapidly, sending Dipper and Mabel flying.

Dipper quickly picked himself up, only to see the creature already having captured Stan, Soos, Robbie, and Gideon. Mabel grabbed Dipper's sleeve, "Dipper, I'm scared. This thing is so far beyond anything we've ever faced before. What if…what if we can't stop it?"

"We can't give up Mabel, we have to make it through this," Dipper told her, helping her to her feet. "I'm just as scared as you, but we'll be fine. We still have each other, and that's enough to give me the strength to keep fighting."

The two of them ran over to stand by Ford, who was busy trying to free his brother and the others by shooting at the creature over their heads. Running up to join them, Alex came and helped form a circle with their backs together.

"We need a new plan, and fast!" exclaimed Alex as he threw his now broken baton. He quickly grabbed both of Stan's fallen baseball bats, passing the other to Dipper.

"Dipper," whispered Ford, "We cannot continue fighting this thing like this. It has too many arms and we're running out of time for the spell before it wears off. You need to escape while you still can to regroup."

"We can't just leave you here Uncle Ford. We can still free the others and make it too Bill's…"

"NO DIPPER!" Ford interrupted passing the spectral vacuum to Dipper, "This creature was waiting for us; I'll hold it back while you three escape to the city archive building. You need to look for an alternate path to the tower. This thing is going to get us all otherwise, so do what you can and rescue us all later."

"But Uncle Ford," argued dipper smashing a tentacle with the bat.

"No buts Dipper, I trust you and know you'll pull through. Now quickly…" but Ford was cut off as a tentacle wrapped around him while he was distracted.

As it lifted him into the air, his laser dropped in front of Dipper. "Ahhh, Dipper, push the red button on the laser, throw it into the air and run!" Ford yelled. Fallowing Ford's order, Dipper grabbed the laser and tossed it up after pushing the button.

The laser exploded in a massive burst of light blinding the creature, but it never releasing its grip. Dipper grabbed Mabel's hand and led her and Alex away from the creature. None of the monsters were following them giving them the chance to escape. The three of them rounded a corner and made their way toward the city archive building.

Once confirming the coast was clear, Alex used his bat to barricade the doors to the building from the inside. Just afterwards, they could hear the sound of the weather spell ending. "So," Alex began to ask, "With the plan in shambles and most of our force captured, what do we do now?"

"We do as Uncle Ford said," Dipper answered, "we find another path into the tower."

"Well then, I assume you have an idea of how to do that," Alex said, beginning to sound a little agitated.

"No, I don't really, but he told us to come here for a reason."

"Seriously, you don't have any idea what we're looking for," Alex yelled.

"Hey," Dipper yelled back, getting into Alex's face, "My Uncle Ford wouldn't have sent us here if there was no way to get to Bill. So instead of just letting out your frustration about the situation, you help us look for the way to rescue our family and friends."

"If that laser could blind the creature the way it did, then why didn't he do that earlier and all of us could escape together! Maybe he didn't even plan to defeat Bill. Maybe he was just giving up."

Alex was interrupted from his accusatory spiel when Dipper punched him in the face. As he drew back his fist to return the blow, Mabel jumped between them, pushing them apart. "Stop it!" she yelled, "This senseless fighting isn't getting us anywhere. Dipper go look over there, Alex, you look over there."

Alex huffed, but complied. "What am I looking for, anyway?" He asked still agitated.

"Anything related to the Northwest Mansion," answered Mabel.

"Why?" asked Alex.

"Since that's where Bill's tower is standing, there may be some way into the tower," answered Mabel calmly.

"Of course, there could be an old sewage or utility tunnel that could get us close to the tower at the very least," said Dipper, and he ran off to the archived construction plans.

"I'm going to the bathroom," said Alex as Mabel went to join her brother. Five minutes later he returned and joined the twins in searching the cities old construction plans. After searching for about twenty minutes Mabel stood up from a pile of blueprints and called the attention of the others. "Hey guys, this tunnel seems kind of weird, but it might be what we're looking for."

The three of them gathered around and examined the paper Mabel had found.

"This is some weirdly small tunnel, what is it?" asked Alex.

"Wait," said Dipper checking a reference map of Gravity Falls, "Mabel, do you know what you've found?"

She shook her head no, and waited for Dipper to explain. "This is an access tunnel into the panic room of Northwest manor, and you'll never believe where the other end is."

"Let me guess," said Alex, "the city archive building?"

"Yeah, what are the chances?"

"Well Dipper," Alex lamented, "I owe you an apology, it would seem your uncle already knew about this tunnel. I guess he did have a backup plan, and judging by this blueprint, we are barely gonna fit. He never would have."

"I'm sorry too Alex, I shouldn't have punched you. I got caught in the heat of the moment, but that's no excuse for it." Dipper took a step toward him, and spread his arms out from his side. "If you want, you can have a revenge shot. So there will be no hard feelings."

"No, that's alright, let's just find the entrance to this tunnel and get in there so we can stop Bill."

"Yah," cheered Mabel, "Friendship is spreading. Now let's group hug."

"No thanks."

"No Mabel," said Dipper, "This isn't the time. Alex is right we need to find the tunnel, and if these blueprints are still accurate, we'll find it on the northern wall of the basement. Let's go."

They run to the sub levels of the building and found the door leading to the room they needed to get to so they can gain access to the tunnel. Dipper reached for the handle only to find it locked.

"Now what do we do? There's no way to know where the key is." He said.

"Get away from the door!" yelled Alex as he came barreling towards it on a fork truck. The truck slammed into the door, tearing it off its hinges. "Well, that worked. It's a lot faster than a key to."

"Great work Alex," Mabel said, patting him on the back as he climbed down off the fork truck.

"That was pretty cool man," Dipper said, "now just look for a small access hatch on the north wall."

"I think there's something behind that self," said Alex after a few minutes of searching. "Help me move this."

Dipper grabbed one side and Alex grabbed the other, and after they moved the self to the left, a small hatch just a couple feet wide and tall was revealed.

"Great, we've got a way into the tower, but what do we do when we get in there? We do have a plan, don't we?" questioned Alex as he pried open the hatch.

"Once we find ourselves inside, we locate the others, set them free, weaken Bill, and I suck him into this," said Dipper holding up the spectral vacuum Ford had given him earlier.

"Brobro, that's a good plan and all, but even I see a few problems. We have no idea of the layout of the tower, so finding the others will be difficult," said Mabel.

"Plus," added Alex, "What do we do if we run into Bill before we find the others? Do you know how to weaken him?"

"I…I guess I…hadn't thought of that," Dipper said timidly.

The only thing Alex could even think to say was "We're doomed."

"I'm sure we'll think of something," said Mabel trying to raise the group's morale.

"Either way, we're not getting anything done here, so we need to get going. Follow me, we're going to safe everyone," said Dipper.

As the three crawled into the tunnel toward the tower, Dipper couldn't shake the feeling that something was off, but he pushed that thought to the side. He had to think of some way to weaken Bill enough to disrupt his physical form. 'Don't worry everyone,' Dipper thought to himself, 'I'm coming to save you. I'm coming to save you Pacifica. I won't let you down.'

 **AN: I would like to start by apologizing that I haven't updated in so long. I've been busy with so many things, that I just stopped writing for a while. I finally listened to myself saying I can't just leave the story unfinished, I don't want to be that kind of person. During this weekend, I plan to finish this story and get the next and final chapter up. I appreciate all the support this community has given me and ask that you continue to read and review my stories. I will be coming back for more stories and be branching into other fandoms. I will also start an account on AO3 soon, mainly for a massive crossover story I've been working on for a little while. Easier on the tags and all.**

 **gamelover41592 – Thanks for the continued support and I hope this chapter and the next are appealing to you. Sorry again for the long wait.**

 **sttaseen – Thanks for the support.**

 **BUDDER711 – Sorry for the wait, I'm AWOL no longer. I will be posting other stories, hope you enjoy them.**


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: So here's the final chapter. This is it; this is what it's all been building too. Ironically, I started this story so long ago with the ending already planned. So with not much to say, I simple ask all those who read my story, be it one person or one million people, I hope you like the ending and thanks for all the support and reviews I received over the course of this story.**

Chapter 8:

As Dipper, Mabel, and Alex were crawling through the tunnel, an odd feeling swept across the group.

"Hey guys," said Mabel, "does something feel off to you?"

"Yeah," answered Alex, "I kind of get the feeling like we're being watched or followed, you know."

"You don't think Bill knows about this tunnel do you?" asked Mabel.

"I don't know," replied Dipper, "but we need to keep moving. Alex, if you see anything behind us, let us know, alright?"

"Gotcha Dipper."

After a few minutes of silent crawling, a screech was heard behind them. Alex looked over his shoulder starring into the darkness. "Crap, it's too dark; I can't see whatever made that noise. We need to move now!"

"You'll get no argument from me!" exclaimed Dipper as he started to crawl at an alarmingly quick rate, followed close behind by Mabel and Alex.

As the group was crawling, the screech came from behind them again, only this time it was much louder.  
"I heard that noise echoing guys," yelled Alex. "Dipper," Mabel said urgently, "can't you move any faster, it's gaining on us."

"I'm trying Mabel; I can't really see where I'm going in this tunnel."

Again the screech was heard and again the group felt a panic settling in over them. "Wait," yelled Dipper, "I see some light up ahead. I think we reached the end." After getting to the light, Dipper saw it was a red emergency power light sitting above another hatch. "There's another hatch guys, like the one we came in."

"Open the hatch then," yelled Alex, "I think I can see the shadow of whatever is coming this way."

Dipper pried the hatch open, exposing the interior of the small panic room. He quickly crawled out of the tunnel and turned around to pull Mabel out as she reached the end. "Come on Alex," Mabel and Dipper said in unison. Mabel continued with, "Your almost there. We'll pull you out."

Alex was halfway out of the tunnel, Dipper grabbing one hand while Mabel grabbed the other when he was suddenly being pulled back in. "Oh God, it's got me!"

"Pull harder Mabel I've got an idea," said Dipper. The twins pulled Alex out to his knees, revealing a nasty, and witch like hand. "Hold him their Mabel, and sorry Alex, this might hurt a little bit."

Dipper reached into his pocket and pulled out his taser. He turned it on and slammed it into the wrist of the hand holding onto Alex's leg. The creature screeched again, releasing its grasp and Alex came flying out of the tunnel pulled by Mabel. "Close the hatch!" yelled Alex.

Dipper slammed the hatch shut and locked it. They could hear the creature pounding on the door, trying to open it before finally giving up.

"Looks like we finally made it into the tower at least," said Mabel.

"You saved me," said Alex breathlessly, "Thank you."

"Don't mention it," replied Dipper, just as breathless, "We still need all the help we can get if we're going to pull this off. Let's take a few minutes to catch our breath, and then we'll head up into the tower. If you can find anything to use as a weapon, grab it."

After the group calmed down a little and began to look around, Mabel found something that raised her heart rate all over again. "Dipper, look, I found Pacifica's phone." She held out the phone to Dipper, battery long dead, screen cracked, and what appeared to be a small amount of blood on the corner.

Dipper reaches out and takes the phone from Mabel. A torrent of emotions swirling around inside of him; happy to see a sign of Pacifica, terror from the abandon state of the phone and the blood, and rage at Bill for even laying a hand on her. The rage being the strongest and showing on his face, Dipper stood and said with a growl, "I'm going to destroy that triangle."

"Dipper, please, don't be reckless," cried Mabel.

"She's right, we need to think this through, and not let our emotions get the better of us again. If we just go charging in, we'll end up doing more harm than good," added Alex.

Dipper took a calming breath, "your right, lets gather what we can and head into the tower. Bill will probably have everyone near the top of the tower, but who knows how many monsters we'll have to fight along the way."

The group looked around the room, Dipper found a small pocket knife and put it in his pocket, while Mabel found a new golf club. 'Probably one of Preston's had to keep the _important_ things safe after all.'

Alex opened his bag and tossed a water bottle to each of the twins, "Better drink up, might be a while before we find anything else," he said.

"Do you have anything to eat in their?" asked Mabel.

"Sorry, only had the water." Alex replied as he sealed the bag back up after pulling out a new collapsible baton.

They finish their water, leaving the bottles in the panic room and opened the hatch above them. As they stepped into the open, the expected to see something or anything really, but the area was completely devoid of monsters.

"Stay on your toes," said Dipper, "There could be a monster around any corner."

As the group made their way through the tower's first floor, the came across a tall spiral staircase. "How high do you think it goes?" asked Mabel.

"Probably all the way to the top," said Alex, "If you think the others are up there, we should probably go up there."

"Right," added Dipper, "just be careful, there doesn't seem to be much cover and we already know there are flying monsters under Bill's control."

The group made their way up the stairs until they reached the top. Having yet to encounter any monsters along the path, Dipper was visibly nervous about what could be on the other side of the door.

"Be ready for anything," Dipper whispered as he opened the door. The room on the other side was completely dark except for a single light hanging over a vertical table. Strapped onto the table was the unconscious form of Pacifica Northwest. Her clothes were wrinkled and dirty, dried blood from an old wound above her right eye ran down her face. Dipper ran over to the table and pulled out the pocket knife, cutting Pacifica free.

"Pacifica, please wake up. Come on Paz," Dipper pleaded.

"Oh God no, she's not…is she…" Mabel tried to say, but she couldn't form the words.

Pacifica began to stir, a moan escaping her lips, "Dipper," she said, barely more than a whisper. A small smile spread across her face, "I knew you'd come to save me." Tears were running down Dippers face as he cradled Pacifica in his arms. "Hey, come on, you don't need to cry."

"I was so afraid Paz, afraid I'd never get to see you again," Dipper said.

He helped her to sit up and they held hands looking into each other's eyes. Dipper and Pacifica had never been happier to see the other. Pacifica was about to say something when they heard a thud.

They looked to see Mabel, unconscious on the ground, Alex standing over her, smiling.

"What the hell do you think you're doing to my sister," Dipper yelled pointing the knife at Alex and standing in between him and Pacifica.

"Exactly as he was told to do," came a voice from the shadows.

"I'd know that voice anywhere, Bill," said Dipper, still pointing the knife at Alex.

"Poor little pine tree," chided Bill floating out into the light behind Pacifica's table. He snapped his fingers and other lights suddenly came on in the room. The rooms interior was revealed, eight other tables like the one Pacifica was attached to came into view. On some of them were Ford, Stan, and the rest. Four tables on each side of the one Pacifica was strapped to, in a semicircle. The light revealed above the door they came in was the dimensional portal Ford had come through.

"Like it, I had the big guy who brought your family here grab the portal from that shack on his way back here."

"What's going on Bill," demanded Dipper.

"Ice bag here's been my eyes and ears in your little group from the very beginning. Now, give me the bag," Bill said.

"All yours," said Alex, tossing the bag to Bill who caught it and opened it to reveal the three journals.

"Now then," said Bill, and with another snap of his fingers, old cloth bandages came flying out of the shadows wrapping around Dipper and the unconscious Mabel, slamming them into two empty tables. A mummy like creature stepped into the light revealing the source of the bandages now wrapped around Dipper.

"Hey," said Alex, "what about my end of the deal, I brought the Pine twins to you, tell me where my Grandfather is."

"Oh right, how could I forget," and with another snap of his fingers, another mummy appeared and grabbed Alex, strapping him to another empty table. "I lied, ice bag. You get to join everyone as a sacrifice for my ultimate power."

"You dirty double cro-" Alex started, but was cut off as more bandages covered his mouth.

Thinking quickly, Dipper used the knife to cut the bandages holding him in place. The mummy yelped in pain and Dipper dropped from the table and charged at Bill. Dipper drove the small knife into a distracted Bill's body. Bill smacked Dipper back and as he landed his taser skirted across the floor towards Pacifica.

"It's too late for your mock heroics now pine tree," chided Bill as he pulled the knife out and tossed it aside. Floating over to Dipper, Bill grabbed him and picked up by the color of his shirt.

With his free hand, Bill turned on the portal and a vortex appeared in its center. "This portal is going to suck out your soul and the souls of all your little friends here. Then with your souls collected, I absorb them and become all powerful."

Dipper could feel himself weakening, and could faintly see an aura around him. He pulled the spectral vacuum out and pointed it at Bill.

"Oh give it up kid, that thing won't do anything to me. I'm physical."

"I know," Dipper said turning it on and pulling his own soul into the device. "This thing is designed to be unusable for you, so without my soul, you're screwed."

"NO, stop," yelled Bill as Dipper's soul was sucked into the vacuum. Bill began to turn red and was about to yell again. The portal behind him already opened to the pocket dimension where he needed to absorb the souls.

"Hey, geometry head," came a voice causing Bill to look away from the lifeless body of Dipper, "Get your hands off my boyfriend," Pacifica yelled.

Pulling the trigger on Mabel's grappling hook that she dropped when Alex had knocked her out, the claw was shot out right towards Bills eye.

Bill dropped Dipper and the vacuum and caught the hook midair effortlessly. "Come on llama, did you really think that would work?"

"Not by itself, no," replied Pacifica as she pulled out Dippers taser from behind her back and zapped the grappling hooks metal cord running to the hook Bill was holding.

Bill was electrocuted in an instant, the electricity wreaking havoc on his body. Pacifica picked up Alex's baton and through it at Bill. The impact was hard enough to cause Bill to fly backwards into the portal. By the time Bill recovered, Pacifica was standing at the edge of the portal already having flipped the off switch. Bill began to fly towards the closing portal missing it by an inch.

"NOOOOOO," yelled Bill now stuck in a small dimension with nothing in it. "I can't access the dreamscape in this physical body; I actually lost to a group of children.

Back on the other side of the portal, as soon as it closed, all the monsters Bill summoned disappeared since the one who summoned them was gone. Pacifica ran to Dipper and tried to wake him up, but without his soul, the attempt was useless.

Now free from the mummy, Alex ran over and released Ford and woke him up. "Look, I know I screwed up, and I know I have a lot to answer for, but right now, Dipper needs you," said Alex to Ford.

Ford gave him a look and ran to where Dipper and Pacifica were. "What happened to him?" asked Ford.

He used that vacuum on himself when Bill tried to take his soul, know he won't wake up," Pacifica cried, tears rolling down her checks. "Please do something, I can't lose him too."

"The vacuum," Ford said, scanning his surroundings looking for it. He quickly found it and through it in reverse. The aura was released from the vacuum and returned to Dipper's body, but he still wouldn't stir.

"Why isn't he waking up?" asked Pacifica still in tears.

"His soul was separated from his body, even with the soul returned, he was still dead. You need to give him a reason to wake up," Ford said, barely holding his emotions in himself.

Pacifica put her forehead on Dipper's, her tears falling onto his face. "Please, Dipper, wake up. I need you. Please don't leave me," she whispered to him.

She lent in and kissed him, and pulled his body into a hug, her face crying into his shoulder.

She felt a hand reach up and wrap around her back, and she jerked up to see Dipper looking at her. "I'm not going anywhere," he said weakly with a small smile.

Her lips quivered and she pulled him into a tighter hug just sitting there crying.

Ford let them be and began to release and wake up the others. After everyone was free and confirmed to be fine, Ford walked over to Pacifica and Dipper. "Come on, kids," he said, "let's get out of here."

Back at a partially destroyed mystery shack, curtesy of the tentacle bird, the group made plans for cleanup of the city. All the citizens of Gravity Falls returned and rebuilding of the town went underway.

The first thing done was tearing down Bill's tower.

"Everything's back to normal now, but what about me Mr. Pines?" asked Pacifica, "My house and all my possessions are gone, and I have no family left."

"I've already talked with my nephew and niece in Piedmont, Dipper and Mabel's parents, and they are more than willing to take you in, if that is alright with you," answered Ford.

"Really?" asked Dipper. "You mean it?" asked Pacifica.

"Of course, but that's not gonna happen till the end of the summer. Till then, you can stay with us at the Mystery Shack," Stan interjected.

"Well, with a bright future ahead of us," Dipper said to Pacifica, taking her hand in his, "it looks like it's going to be one amazing summer."

 **AN: And that's it. What if is finally finished. I hope you all like it and please look forward to more from me. I plan on adding to 'I will never forget' soon. Please, please, please review my story and if you have anything to say, I am more than happy to hear from any of you. For those of you who followed or favorited this story, I want you to know how much I appreciate that. I wasn't sure how my writing would be received and I hope I'm improving. I'm trying to work on adding more detail. I hope to hear from you guys on my next story.**


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